Lithium

Properties of lithium atoms

Ionisation Energies and electron affinity

The electron affinity of lithium is 59.6  kJ mol^-1. The ionisation energies of lithium are given below.

Electronic configuration

The following represents the electronic configuration and its associated term symbol for the ground state neutral gaseous atom. The configuration associated with lithium in its compounds is not necessarily the same.

• Ground state electron configuration:  [He].2s¹
• Shell structure:  2.1
• Term symbol:   ²S_1/2

A schematic representation of the shell structure of lithium - not what the atom of lithium "looks like".

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